A blog dedicated to the New York Mets with some other baseball thrown in.

Friday, January 14, 2005

100 Million Dollar Men

After the 2000 season not only did Met fans have to endure losing to smug Yankee fans in the Subway series, but it was the last year Major League Baseball had seen a year in which no team had a payroll over $100 million. That year the Yankees had only three players making $10 million or over. Their highest paid player was Bernie Williams and he was not even making $13 million. The Yankees will never sniff $100 million dollars again and have already broke the $200 million barrier this year. Since 2001, the $100 million barrier has been broken fifteen times. Four of those times fifteen times the barrier was broken by the Yankees. In those four times, the Yankees broke the $100 million barrier by a total of $175.16 million. All of the other teams that broke the $100 million barrier went over it by a combined $96.31 million in an eleven combined seasons.

Out of the fifteen combined times that a team broke that barrier, only one team has won the World Series with a payroll past $100 million and that was the Boston Red Sox in 2004. Seven teams managed to miss the playoffs all together and only two made it to the World Series. 2005 will be only the second season Wilpon and the Mets have pushed past the $100 million barrier.

Year

Payroll

Team

Place

Finish

2003

$106,243,667

Braves

1st

DIV

2002

$102,819,999

Diamonback

1st

DIV

2004

$127,298,500

Red Sox

2nd

WS

2002

$108,366,060

Red Sox

2nd

2001

$109,675,833

Red Sox

2nd

2003

$105,872,620

Dodgers

3rd

2001

$109,105,953

Dodgers

1st

2004

$100,534,667

Angels

5th

DIV

2003

$117,176,429

Mets

1st

2004

$184,193,950

Yankees

1st

DIV

2003

$152,749,814

Yankees

1st

AL

2002

$125,928,583

Yankees

1st

DIV

2001

$112,287,143

Yankees

1st

AL

2003

$103,491,667

Rangers

4th

2002

$105,726,122

Rangers

4th

In a not so far away time I call the 90's, things were different. In the 90's the Toronto Blue Jays topped the majors in payroll twice while the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals both led the league in payroll one time each. The last year anyone not named the Yankees topped the majors in payroll was in 1998 when the Baltimore Orioles held the top spot and that is the last time any team not nomed the Yankees will of held the top spot in my lifetime. All in all, the Yankees have lead the league in payroll nine times in the last eleven years. The 90's also passed without the team that lead the league in payroll being more than $9 million more than the second place team at any point. In 2005 it is quite possible the Yankees payroll will be $80 million more than the second place team.

In 2005 the Mets are looking like they will have the third highest non-Yankee payroll in the history or organized sports. They also stand to be one of the three teams in MLB that are going to be beyond the $100 million dollar threshold. Whether or not Omar or the Wilpons are going to make their expectations known, they fully well anticipate that this team is going to makes some noise in the playoff push and they are going to look to hedge as best as they can even if that means spending more money. Omar has gone to far to turn back now and has already put too much on the line, but it remains to be seen if they Mets will be yet another $100 million team that misses the playoffs or if they will be the next team that bought their way into the playoffs. I'll be cutting the heads off of chickens daily in hopes it is the latter.

The A's sent out a feeler regarding Byrnes several weeks ago, but the Mets' sudden shift comes as they're mulling deals for Cliff Floyd and Mike Cameron. Oakland GM Billy Beane may be willing to take on Cameron, considering he tried to sign him as a free agent after the 2003 season.

Scouts still aren't sure how Petit has dominated lower-level hitters as much as he has. His fastball has good velocity (89-93 mph) and movement but is a 55-60 pitch on the 20-80 scouting scale. His slider and changeup are solid-average and could become plus pitches. While Hernandez projects as a No. 1 starter, Petit realistically has a ceiling of a No. 3.

This year will be a big test for Petit, who figures to open in Double-A after making two starts there at the end of 2004. If he enjoys similar success in Double-A, it'll be that much easier to believe he's for real and probably will serve as a springboard for his major league debut by the end of the year.

Couldn't someone tap the kid on the shoulder and just tell him it may not be such a good idea to leave the house dressed like a Nazi? Just a little reminder that it may not be the best costume choice he's ever had for Halloween.

Mets News

The Ken Oberkfell (or anyone else for that matter) For Manager Movement

"No one really gave me credit for doing what I did. They just criticized me," "The manager countered that Wright might not have had as good a year had the manager not protected the youngster by placing him down in the order early in the season."

Riiiiiiiiight. That does not even deserve a response.

"I guess I'm a show-me guy, I want to see that David can keep making the adjustments," Randolph said.

I'm a show me guy too. Show me why you should still employed. Hint #1, treat your best hitter like your best hitter. Don't punish someone for being young.

"I let them play," Randolph said. "It's not always going to come down to average and statistics. It's just how you play the game. Managers look at players and it's what they see."

Your gut decisions have worked out oh so well so far, so why change?

"He was just one of the guys we had," Randolph said. "Who knows? We may even pick someone up. The competition just started. It doesn't change the whole picture at second base for me at all. The fact that he's not here, we have to just move on."

That was when Brett Boone retired and that was followed up by...

"Keppinger really wasn't in the mix. Keppinger was kind of a long shot, and he's still kind of a long shot, but he's there."

Willie, wait. I thought you just said the competition just started? Now Keppinger had no shot and since A Hern has been playing short (a very foreign position from second) he is out too?

"I'm not concerned at all"

That was Willie commenting on Victor Zambrano's inability to actually resemble a good pitcher. I know Willie is not going to throw his guy under the bus, so I give him a free pass, but I wouldn't mind a comment about him needing to step up and perform in the next week or so.

"He's still a nice player, but let's not get crazy," Randolph said. ~ 4/15/08

Willie telling Angel Pagan to not get too excited because chances are, he really is not good.

"He's not going to be in that tree all year," Randolph said of Pagan, who is also tied with David Wright for the team lead with 10 RBIs. "We've seen a lot of players come through the pike and do what Pagan's doing, so let's keep this in perspective." ~ 4/15/08

Willie 'motivating' his team in their time of need.

"I like Luis in the No. 2 spot," Randolph said. "He's still one of the better No. 2 hitters in the game." ~ 4/15/08